“If you do not wish to sell perhaps you would consider parting with an entertainer.” “That’s up to the entertainer.” Those are the lines in the play. The lines in the film are much better.

My Top 7:

Casablanca

The Ox-Bow Incident

Watch on the Rhine

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Heaven Can Wait

Five Graves to Cairo

Phantom of the Opera

note: Yes, there is only a top 7, and not a fantastic Top 7 at that. 1943 just isn’t that great a year for film, especially when you realize that Casablanca is a 1942 film that just didn’t get an Oscar qualifying run until early 1943. (more…)

The darkness of the winter light perhaps lit by the illumination of God, depending on how you look at it.

You can read more about this year in film here. The Best Picture race is discussed here, with reviews of all the nominees. First there are the categories, followed by all the films with their nominations, then the Globes, where I split the major awards by Drama and Comedy, followed by a few lists at the very end. If there’s a film you expected to see and didn’t, check the very bottom – it might be eligible in a different year. Films in red won the Oscar in that category (or Globe, in the Globes section). Films in blue were nominated. Films with an asterisk (*) were Consensus nominees (a scale I put together based on the various awards) while those with a double asterisk (**) were the Consensus winners.

I’m listing the top 10 in the categories but only the top 5 earn Nighthawk nominations.

Nighthawk Awards:

Best Picture

Winter Light

The Great Escape

Stray Dog

Tom Jones **

Ivan’s Childhood

The Bad Sleep Well

Shoot the Piano Player

Knife in the Water

8 1/2

Hud *

Analysis: In one sense a very strong year, as there are three more **** films: White Nights, The Leopard and The Birds. On the other hand, notice anything about those films? Of those 13 films, 9 of them are Foreign films. There are only 4 English Language films (my #14 is an English Language film: Love with the Proper Stranger). This doesn’t get a lot better in my ***.5 films that round out my Best Picture list: Love with the Proper Stranger, Sundays and Cybele, The Four Days of Naples, This Sporting Life, The Sword in the Stone and Death in the Garden. That’s 19 films, 12 of which are Foreign films, and another two (Tom Jones, This Sporting Life) which are British, so it’s really a damn weak year for Hollywood. And 7 of these films aren’t originally from 1963 (the full list is way down below).Tom Jones doesn’t just win the Consensus Best Picture – it sweeps the awards, the last film to win all the available awards until Schindler’s List.(more…)

You can read more about this year in film here. The Best Picture race is discussed here, with reviews of all the nominees. First there are the categories, followed by all the films with their nominations, then the Globes, where I split the major awards by Drama and Comedy, followed by a few lists at the very end. If there’s a film you expected to see and didn’t, check the very bottom – it might be eligible in a different year. Films in red won the Oscar in that category (or Globe, in the Globes section). Films in blue were nominated. Films with an asterisk (*) were Consensus nominees (a scale I put together based on the various awards) while those with a double asterisk (**) were the Consensus winners.

I’m listing the top 10 in the categories but only the top 5 earn Nighthawk nominations.

Nighthawk Awards:

Best Picture

Lawrence of Arabia **

To Kill a Mockingbird *

Throne of Blood

The Music Man *

Jules and Jim

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Through a Glass Darkly

Ride the High Country

The Manchurian Candidate

Last Year at Marienbad

Analysis: There’s a big drop here after #9 – it drops from a mid-range **** to a high-level ***.5. This year ties 1960 as having the best Top 9 to date. Ride the High Country and The Manchurian Candidate really match up with Tunes of Glory and The Hidden Fortress as the best #8 and #9 films to date. I re-watched Jules and Jim before doing these awards and ended up bumping it up in a few categories, most notably Picture and Director, which ended up costing The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance its only two Nighthawk nominations. But in years like this, it’s hard to just pick five films at the top.(more…)

The love story is nice, but it’s the music and dancing that make West Side Story the best film ever made out of a Broadway musical.

You can read more about this year in film here. The Best Picture race is discussed here, with reviews of all the nominees. First there are the categories, followed by all the films with their nominations, then the Globes, where I split the major awards by Drama and Comedy, followed by a few lists at the very end. If there’s a film you expected to see and didn’t, check the very bottom – it might be eligible in a different year. Films in red won the Oscar in that category (or Globe, in the Globes section). Films in blue were nominated. Films with an asterisk (*) were Consensus nominees (a scale I put together based on the various awards) while those with a double asterisk (**) were the Consensus winners.

I’m listing the top 10 in the categories but only the top 5 earn Nighthawk nominations.

Nighthawk Awards:

Best Picture

West Side Story **

The Hustler *

La Dolce Vita

One, Two, Three

Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Yojimbo

The Bridge

Elevator to the Gallows

L’Avventura

The Guns of Navarone *

Analysis: Though still a very solid Top 5, this is a significant drop from the last several years. The Hustler is actually the weakest #2 film in 6 years and La Dolce Vita is the weakest #3 film in 16 years. Ironically, though, because I have no point difference between my #3 and #7 films, The Bridge is the third best #7 film to date. But, because of the strength of 1960 and because only the top 8 films here are ****, there is an incredible 28 point difference between the Top 10 of 1960 (avg: 94.5) and the Top 10 of 1961 (avg: 91.7). (more…)